Dollhouse
by AwesomeJellyBean
Summary: He didn't know who he was, or if he was even real. All he knew was that he kept him going. Likewise, Cole did not know who he was. All he knew was that he was helping. He did hope that he could meet him, however. He really liked him, even if he only ever met him in the fade.
1. It Happened in a Dream

**DISCLAIMER- You guys probably already guessed that I don't own Dragon Age Inquisition, or any of the characters and plots in it. I only own my own characters and plots.**

**I based this off of the dreams that I've been having recently. Pesky little lost boy- are you trying to help me by invading my dreams? Anyways, I hope that this makes sense. Tbh I haven't really gotten to play Inquisition too much, so I apologize.**

**Also, a little note, this will start out as a friendship, and maybe later on, depending on what I decide to do, will evolve into a romance. For now, it's friendship. There are hints of a male Lavellen and an Iron Bull romance, though.**

**I hope that you enjoy!**

_'Where am I?' Dakota though as he looked down and around in wonder._

_It looked somewhat hazy, as if a thick mist was all around him, but he did not feel the damp humidity that would usually come with it._

_Furthermore, his clothes- which were quite lovely- did not stick to his body._

_There was something pulling him, too._

_He could not resist- the pull was too strong._

_He soon found himself inside of a house._

_A very familiar house._

_He felt the blood drain from his face as an icy cold dread filled him._

_No, not this place._

_"Hey. They're not here yet. Lock all of the doors and windows so they can't get in." A disembodied voice whispered._

_Dakota swerved his head around, trying to find the source, but was only met with playful laughter._

_"Come on! Hurry and lock everything up. They're coming." The voice said._

_Dakota could see lights dimply shining through the windows._

_The voice was right._

_With his heart beating in his chest like a battering ram would against a castle door, he set to work locking everything._

_He could hear their voices as they tried to open the doors, and he could feel himself panic._

_"Upstairs. Come on, I'll race you!" The voice urged, the playful tone somehow easing Dakota._

_A smile danced upon his lips as he rushed up the stairs, the skirt of his dress fluttering as he went._

_In a frenzy, he locked all the windows on the top floor, as well as the latch to the roof._

_"Now, don't forget down below. Hurry, they're coming!" The voice whispered again._

_He was moving about so much, and his heart felt as if it were trying to break out of his rib cage, but he was not out of breath._

_He knew that he should have been afraid, but he was excited, as if the playfulness of the voice dashed away his fears._

_He barely made it to the door in time to lock it- they were banging on it just as he backed away._

_The voice's laughter seemed to chase away the banging and the fear._

_"Are you in my head?" Dakota asked._

_"We both are, but I'm actually right behind you." _

_Dakota turned, his hair splaying out as he did so, barely grazing the chest of a rather odd individual._

_Around Dakota's age, with rather raggedy clothes on, sickly pale skin, and a head of messy blonde hair hidden by a large floppy hat._

_"Both? Wha-"_

_"Wake up!"_

Dakota shot forward, struggling to get a lungful of air.

His heart was beating madly in his chest, and it felt as if he were rudely thrust back into his body.

Usually, these were the remnants of a nightmare, but strangely enough, he felt no feeling of terror or fear.

He felt...happy.

Happier than he had felt in a long while.

His hand went to retrieve his cell phone, which read _3:49AM_- Too early to be awake, especially when he was on break from school.

After calming his heart, he laid back down in an attempt to catch a few hours more of sleep.

Meanwhile, a certain blonde haired boy was attempting to calm himself down.

Somehow, he had slipped into the fade.

With shaky legs, he stumbled off to find Solas, hoping that the elf could help him understand what just happened.


	2. A Bundle of Contradictions

Cole practically ran up to Solas, surprising the bald elf.

"Cole, what is wrong? Has something happened?" The elf asked, concerned.

"I-I don't. The fade. A dream. A person, I-I don't." Cole spluttered out.

"Calm down, Cole."

Cole took a few shaky breaths to gather himself.

"Sleeping, but not quite. Dreaming, but too real to be a dream. A broken home, filled with shadows. People, familiar, yet faceless, trying to come in. I warned him, and I- I helped? Danger. So much danger and fear, but it wasn't real, but it was. Pain and hurt in the walls and the doors, but I told him to lock them all. They banged and banged but could not come in, and he was safe, and I was there, but I wasn't." Cole explained, recalling what he had dreamed.

"You entered the fade?"

"No, but yes. A mind. His mind. A person full of contradictions. He didn't know, and I didn't know, but we both knew. It's...I still don't understand."

Solas furrowed his brows.

"Who is 'he'?"

"I don't-"

_Dakota_

"Dakota, but he never said so. I know, but I don't know how."

At this point, Solas was just about as confused as Cole was.

"Is this 'Dakota' someone here?" Solas questioned.

"No, not here. Far away, yet close enough. In a dead place, filled with hurt and pain covered up like leaves covering a tree branch. Like...like..."

"Like me? Did his mind feel like mine?" A voice asked.

The two turned to see Uriel.

Uriel was not from Thedas, or so they claimed.

They were from somewhere else.

"Yes! Like you, but different. Very different." Cole answered.

"Ah. It might be the breach that made this possible. I'm not sure why, though." Uriel said.

"Why it makes this possible or why this happened?" Solas asked.

"Yes."

Solas twitched in irritation, which amused Uriel, judging from their shit-eating grin.

"So, Cole, what did you feel?" Uriel turned the attention back to the boy.

"Pain, fear, hurt, but..."

"But?"

Cole looked up, a sparkle in his eyes not seen there before.

"Playful, happy, like a puppy romping in spring fields. It was...fun."

"Hmmm. Well, this is the first time that this has happened, right? Perhaps it will happen again, and there will be more answers. Is that okay, Cole? I know that you do not like being in the fade, to put it lightly." Uriel asked, concerned.

Cole stayed silent for a moment, thinking.

He kind of wanted it to happen again.

He felt...tingly.

"Yes. It's not really the fade, but it is. I think it helps to take away his hurt."

"Then it's settled. Any qualms, Solas?"

The elf frowned deeply at the rather odd human- and he used that term lightly, but could do nothing but agree.

"We still do not know for certain what has caused this and why. Knowing more can help stop this."

"Or maybe it doesn't need to stop."

Solas gave Uriel a look that said, 'I'll deal with you later', but otherwise, ignored them, and instead, spoke to Cole.

"Perhaps I should see if I could join you, to see for myself."

_No, not yet._

"Not yet. Maybe...a few days later?"

Solas looked surprised, then irritated, as Uriel stuck their tongue out at him.

"Very well, Cole. In two days, I shall try to join you, wherever you may be."

And like that, it was decided.


	3. A Fleeting Thought

Dakota really didn't know what to think of the dream.

It was just a dream, but it felt real.

Not like a lucid dream, but...

Eh, he didn't know how to explain it.

It didn't matter, however.

All that mattered was that it made him feel better than he had in months.

He could eat, and bathe, and do things that he liked.

All thanks to that drea-

_Cole_

What?

Flashes of the ending of his dream, the boy with the raggedy clothes and floppy hat.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, and sickly pale skin.

Cole.

That boy's name is Cole.

Dakota shook those thoughts off, with the faint knowledge that they would return again.

Cole would return again.


	4. It's Rather Nice Out, Yes?

_Dark, cold, scary._

_No food, no water, nothing and no one to comfort him._

_He was trapped here._

_Locked in this place._

_He couldn't escape._

_He-_

_A light flickered to life, revealing that blond haired boy from before._

_Cole._

_"The door is unlocked. Do you want to go get them back and leave this place?" He asked, his voice like a balm to Dakota's fear._

_He came back._

_A grin spread across Dakota's face, and his eyes lit up._

_He jumped to his feet._

_"I know where she keeps them. Come on, let's go!" He urged, grabbing the blonde's hand._

_It was much larger than his own, and had calluses._

_It was also colder than his hand, which was something that certainly surprised him._

_Granted, not as much as grabbing the boy's hand surprised Cole._

_He didn't pull away, though._

_Merely gave a weak grin before letting himself be tugged along by Dakota._

_They had to be sneaky- easy for a rouge who can turn himself invisible and a person who's used to sneaking about._

_"Hopefully the door isn't too squeaky." Dakota whispered._

_"Even if it is, we could probably outrun her." Cole whispered back._

_The two shared a somewhat mischievous and playful grin before opening the basement door and dashing out silently._

_She was coming._

_The two quickly hid, and waited for her shadow to pass and her footsteps to fade._

_She was gone now, and now, they could make a mad dash for the closet, grab Dakota's things, and escape._

_"You ready?" Cole asked, turning to his companion, his large hat hiding his eyes._

_"You know it. Let's get out of here." Dakota replied before quietly making his way to the closet._

_He had long enough legs, and he used them sort of like a spring to leap to the closet quickly and quietly._

_Of course, it took Cole less time, given that he was taller, with longer legs._

_Nonetheless, he waited for Dakota to do the honors, and open the closet door._

_At the back of the closet, placed high, was a box filled with all of the toys and treats that woman took from Dakota._

_"Cole, I can't reach it, I'm too short! Could you grab it for me?" Dakota asked after he tried in vain to reach the box._

_5'5 and he was still too short to reach it._

_It was peculiar, since it wasn't so much that he wasn't tall enough, but it seemed as if the shelf would raise itself higher every time he got close to reaching it. _

_"You can reach it, Dakota. Try once more." Cole encouraged, looking back and forth from him to the hall._

_"Okay."_

_And with that, Dakota braced himself for his final attempt._

_He reached as far as he could, his fingertips grazing the bottom of the box._

_Nails scratched into it, finding a bit to pull towards the edge of the shelf._

_Gingerly, he coaxed the box off, and then down._

_"Got it, let's run!"_

_"I'll race you out the door!" Cole teased before breaking out into a run._

_"Hey, no fair!" Dakota called out after him, laughing as he did so._

_Their elevated voices called the woman's attention, and they both flew like bats straight out of hell out the back door, and onward, until they were a safe distance away._

_"Finally, I have all my stuff back from that witch!" Dakota exclaimed happily, raising the box in victory._

_He brought it back down again, and urged his companion to sit down on the dry grass with him, and the two looked through the box's contents together._

_It was so nice._

_It wasn't too cold or too hot outside, the sky was as blue as can be, and there was a pleasant breeze that flirted with the long, dark locks of Dakota's hair._

_It was so peaceful, he was so content._

_He was so happy to be here, and so was Cole, it seemed._

_However, all good things must come to an end._

_Cole stood up, bringing Dakota with him._

_Dakota's smile lessened._

_"You have to leave?"_

_"Yes, but I'll be back. I should, that is."_

_It was enough._

_Besides, he probably would be back._

_No, he will be._

Dakota awoke, much like he did last time, with his heart trying in vain to leap from his chest.

He checked the time-

_6:58PM_

A two hour long nap.

He was still a bit tired, but he felt refreshed.

That dream had given him strength.


	5. Cheshire Cat and Mouse

**Displeased with the chapter, and I apologize.**

Cole shot up, much like he did last time, gasping for breath.

He waited a while, to collect himself, before he looked up.

"How was it?" Uriel asked.

"Memory, yet dream. Dark, dank, filled with fear and pain. An escape, but we needed to get the others. He tries to reach, but can't. She'll be coming back soon. I tell him to try again. He gets them, and we flee, the shadow chasing after us. Then, a grassy field, he's content. I leave." Cole answered.

Uriel had a flicker of realization in their eyes, but stayed silent for a while, before speaking.

"The last dream. Was it in a house?"

"Yes, but how? Do you know him?"

Cole was standing by this time, taller than Uriel by an inch or so.

"Yes. I'm not sure how you're able to contact him, but Dakota has always been rather gifted, so I suppose it makes sense. Perhaps he'll be joining us soon. I can only hope." Uriel explained.

Joining us?

As in here?

Physically here?

Warmth made Cole tingle.

Happy.

He was happy.

He wasn't sure why, but he the thought of Dakota being here, with him, made him feel so happy.

"Heh, you like him, don't you, Cole?" Uriel teased.

"What?"

Uriel's eyes glimmered with mischief.

"So, what exactly do you guys do in the fade, hmm? Cause I feel like you're not telling us everything, lover boy."

Could Cole blush?

Because he felt like he could, and was.

"I make it better! He's scared and hurt and I make it better!" He defended.

Uriel grinned like the Cheshire cat.

"Oh? How so, hmm? And does he make you feel better? I'd say so. You were smiling while you were in the fade." They purred.

Poor Cole was like a little mouse in the paws of a sadistic cat at the moment.

Uriel giggled at the blonde's flustered attempts to explain things, but then sobered up a bit.

"I'm just teasing you, Cole. I'm glad that you're helping him, and that you like him. You need it just as much as he does. Take care. I'll harass you later."

And with that, they left him there, still burning with embarrassment, and still a bit confused.


End file.
